Seize the Moment and Live Life to the Fullest
Philippians 3:16 “But we must hold on to the progress we have already made”.
Introduction
A young Prince who wished to marry the King’s beautiful daughter went to the King to ask his permission. The King looked him over and responded, “Son, go stand out in that field and I’m going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, then you can marry my daughter.”
The young Prince stood in the pasture awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and to his amazement, running out was the biggest, meanest-looking bull he had ever seen. He decided within himself that the next bull had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through the pasture out the back gate.
The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood – pawing the ground, grunting, drooling – as it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one, he said to himself. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through the pasture, out the back gate.
The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest, thinnest little bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He grabbed… but alas, the bull had NO tail!
The young Prince was waiting for a perfect condition, the story would’ve been much shorter had the young Prince took on the first bull, however, he allowed his fears and reservations get in the way of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He could’ve married the girl of his dreams had he learned to set aside his fears.
We must take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way to fulfil our purpose in life.
Paul shows us three simple ways in Philippians 3:10-17 how to live a more fulfilling life.
1) Find Your Purpose
Paul stated his reason for living… Read (vv.10-11). “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Paul’s reason for living was to be like Jesus. This also should be our reason for living.
2) Forget the Past
(READ v.13) “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”
There are two elements of the past that we must forget.
First: “Forget the Bad” Paul, just like all of us had a past to forget. He had caused a lot of pain and had done much damage to the cause of Christ.
Isaiah 43:25 says, “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for My own sake and will never think of them again.”
Jeremiah 31:34 says, “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
Now in forgetting the past. We must not only forget the bad, but we must also:
Second: “Forget the Good”
Paul knew that a good past was not enough to guarantee a meaningful future.
Read vv. 4-7 “though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”
One thing we can know for certain is this, “God never consults your past to determine your future.”
3) Face the Present
(Read v.13) “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead”.
It is easy to live in the past and it is easy to dream away the future, but it’s a real challenge to face the present, because it means we can no longer allow ourselves the luxury of saying, “One of these days I’ll do something about my temper … my commitment to God … my health … my responsibility to my family … and so on.
In John 11, I believe most of us are familiar with the story of Lazarus, Martha came to Jesus and spoke that classic phrase used by people who live in the past: “IF ONLY” she said, “Jesus, if only you had been here my brother would not have died”.
Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again”. Martha began dreaming about the future and said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
She knew that Jesus had the power in the past, and she knew that He would have the power in the future, but Martha, like so many of us at times, aren’t quite sure about His Power in the Present Circumstance.
We need to say Yes Lord We Believe and put Our Faith into Action. Wherever life leads you, always keep an eye out for little opportunities, challenges that will help you achieve your goals.
God does not want us to waste our lives away. He wants us to “seize the moment” and live every day of our lives with a purpose. He has given us a reason for living; to be like Jesus.
+ Olubunmi, If
